A Pentagon employee is accused of leaking secret information to an internet site. A lie-detector test suggests he is guilty. Facing prison for life, his only hope is Dr. Alexandre Lelong, a psychologist with an extremely rare talent: the ability to ‘read’ people’s true thoughts by observing microscopic changes in their facial expressions.
Award-winning author Janice Hally enters the world of Pentagon scandals and internet leaks for this contemporary thriller.
AUDIO VERSION
Chapter 1
I should have been at a victory dinner tonight. Four happy people should have been celebrating my formidable powers of persuasion, my invincibility, my impressive intellect. I should have been acclaimed as the hero of the hour. Instead, here I am, nearly four thousand miles from home, doing the thing I detest most in the world – eating alone.
I push myself into the corner of the polished wood booth in the main dining room of the Old Ebitt Grill, and sink into the soft green velvet of the bench seat. On the mirrored walls opposite me is a large painting of the White House. The real thing is two blocks away. I take a mouthful of Dom Perignon. The bubbles dance lightly on my tongue, but nothing can lift the depression that crushes me.
The waiter arrives with my crab cakes. Just once, before returning home to France, I wanted to taste the local speciality, whether I can now find the appetite to eat them is another question.
What folly it was to come here to America. What folly! What possessed me? I know. I just don’t like to admit it. I was a victim of my own ego. I deserved it.
The words from ‘The Little Prince’, come back to me now. “One can only truly see with the heart. All that is essential, is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint Exupery, you tried to teach us lessons about life, but you got it so wrong. Because the truth is that everything is there for the eyes to see, and of all the things that can obscure our vision, the heart has the power to blind us completely.
Ask for Chapter 2!
It was more than a month ago, a normal day in May. I had come home to rue de Tournon after recording a TV round table discussion for TF1 when the telephone rang. I answered it to hear an American voice at the other end of the line, “Dr Alexandre Lelong?” “Yes?” I replied cautiously. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Steve Cavin, I’m a senior partner at Cavin Murray & Hogan LLP, Attorneys at Law.” I became immediately uncomfortable. American lawyers make me think of lawsuits and being sued. Not that I have any reason to worry, but you can never be sure. When I was a psychologist in America I had to pay enormous amounts for insurance to protect me in case anyone decided to sue me for malpractice. Everyone in my position had to do the same. “How can I help you?” I asked. “My company is representing a client who requires expert witness testimony.” “Oh…?” I tried to sound interested, rather than relieved. The lawyer went on, “After conducting extensive research, we have concluded that no-one is as well-qualified, or well-respected as you are in the field of detecting deception by means of non-verbal behaviour.” He was using all the right words – well-qualified, “Cavin, Steve Cavin.” “Thank you. It’s a bad line. Where are you exactly?” “Washington DC.” “And you’re looking as far afield as Paris for someone who can identify a liar?” “I can’t tell you all the details about the case, at this stage, you understand.” “Of course. Lawyer-client confidentiality.” “In brief, my client took a voluntary polygraph test at his place of employment.” I was aware that many American companies required employees to take polygraph – or lie-detector – tests when they were applying for jobs. I assumed that it had something to do with that. “Your client took it as part of a background check?” “No, because he was accused of something.” “And what did the polygraph show?” “It’s complicated. The results were inconclusive. But the examiner who administered the test delivered an extremely unfavourable assessment of him, casting doubt on his claims of innocence.” “That’s the trouble with polygraph tests. They prove nothing.” “That’s why you are the man I want for this case. I am very well-acquainted with your scepticism about the polygraph. I’ve read what you’ve written about it and its failings.” “Paris to Washington DC. It’s a long way. I’m sure you could find expert witnesses in the US who can make the arguments for you that I could.” “But I couldn’t find one that was also a ‘Truth Wizard’. To me, that makes you uniquely suited to assisting us.” A Truth Wizard. Yes, that was what he called me. I was barely listening as he went through the details about faxing the non-disclosure agreement with its secrecy and confidentiality clauses. The promises about fees, hotel, business class flights, executive transfers, were of little interest: I knew I would be looked after. After all, as he said, I was “uniquely suited” to assisting them. Vanity is the quicksand of reason, wrote George Sand. How right she was. All reason and good sense left me when I was reminded of those glorious, carefree days at the San Francisco State University when I was first pronounced a “Truth Wizard”.
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